Annabel Crabb, of Kitchen Cabinet fame, Leigh Sales, host of the ABC’s flagship news and current affairs program 7.30 and renowned Australian journalist Stan Grant will form part of an impressive cohort of Australian journalists featuring at this year’s Byron Writers Festival.
‘Australian journalism is the best in the world, and who better to represent the power of debate than three of our most esteemed reporters,’ said festival director Edwina Johnson.
Stan Grant’s Talking to My Country is an extraordinarily powerful and personal meditation on race, culture and national identity.
In January, Grant made a powerful unscripted speech at the IQ2 Racism Debate on growing up Aboriginal and the racism he and his family encountered. It’s been labelled as one of the greatest speeches against racism and immediately went viral.
‘Stan Grant is rapidly carving both the groundswell and content of an essential societal debate. He has struck a chord with Australians everywhere since delivering last year’s powerful address on racism, and receives standing ovations every time he speaks. We are privileged to be bringing him to Byron to present the annual Thea Astley address’ said Ms Johnson.
Whether she’s cooking up a storm in the kitchen or serving it up to Australian politicians, journalist Annabel Crabb will surely add spice to the Festival program. Columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald, she is also a regular on the ABC’s Insiders and is the chief political writer for ABC Online. A dab hand in the kitchen, Crabb also hosts her own TV program Kitchen Cabinet – where Australian politicians uniquely discuss issues over a meal prepared by both Crabb and her guest.
Crabb’s latest book The Wife Drought is about women, men, family and work. Cast in Crabb’s inimitable style, it takes a candid and often funny view of politics and the media.
Never one to shy away from taking on the ‘big guns’ of the Australian political and financial landscape, Leigh Sales is renowned for her hard-hitting journalism and putting politicians on the spot.
‘Hot off the election campaign, [Sales and Crabb] will be desperate to indulge their interests outside politics, mostly what they’ve been reading, watching and cooking,’ says Johnson.
Young readers will be delighted with the news that Kate Forsyth, Nick Falk and Tony Flowers will be making the trip to Byron Bay to join already announced guests Anna Fienberg, Damon Young and Peter Carnavas.
